The Signs of a Good DM

[TarionzCousin]

What are the signs of a Good DM?

I'll start:

1. Good hygiene. Showered, no bad breath, clean clothes;
2. Prepared for the game (yes, this doesn't always happen): including being on time, knowing the adventure, having encounters ready;
3. Ability to improvise: make it appear (almost) seamless with prepared stuff, not naming every new NPC "Bob," being comfortable with "winging it";
4. An expectation that everyone is going to have fun and a plan to make that happen.

I'm sure there are many more. What else?

 

[crazy_monkey1956]

Knowing the rules: This doesn't have to be encyclopedic knowledge, but it does mean either knowing the more common rules and knowing page references to look stuff up, even it is marking the pages of the rule book with tabs or something.

 

[Umbran]

The people at the table have a good time. Is there any other measure, really?

 

[Filcher]

Since I can't give Umbran any more exp (there really should be a time delimiter for when new EXP can be awarded to the same person, but whatever), let me say that I agree. But this creates the interesting question around DMs that are good for one group, and DMs that are good for many groups.

I might be great for my M&M group at home with our 10-year running campaign, and suck when I run Warhammer at GenCon.

 

[Fifth Element]

Agreed with the above. While the signs listed by the OP are pretty general and apply to most (all?) games, you can't get too far beyond those type of generalities. A good GM for one group might be terrible for another - particularly if they have different concepts of what constitutes "fun".

 

[Umbran]

A good GM for one group might be terrible for another - particularly if they have different concepts of what constitutes "fun".

Well, that makes a lot of sense. Imagine asking the question, "What makes a good game?" There may be a couple of points you can get folks to agree upon (like, takes less than a geologic age to resolve actions), but by and large what qualifies as "good" is subjective. The same should hold for GMs, for similar reasons.

 

[Psychotic Jim]

Good communication and conflict resolution skills. Providing clear descriptions of what is going on is a must so that everybody's on the same page. Running a game requires a lot of interaction with people, and that sometimes means dealing with complex situations or disagreements. Reading player reactions and effective DM/player dialogue allows a DM to focus on the parts that enhance the game helps keep it fresh and dynamic while sorting out potential problem issues.

 

[Stormonu]

1) Flexible
2) Knowledgeable
3) Imaginative
4) Engaging

 

[Hussar]

What are the signs of a Good DM?

I'll start:

1. Good hygiene. Showered, no bad breath, clean clothes;
/snip

I'm not sure which disturbs me more. The fact that this was #1 on your list, or that after several posts, NO ONE commented on it. Is "stinky gamer" really that common that it's actually needed to be mentioned? Gack. I've only run into stinky gamer once, a young woman many years ago, but, wow.

Anyway, just to add:

1) Introspective enough to self-examine
2) Self-confident enough to take criticism
3) Interested in multiple systems
4) Play experience with other GM's to stea... erm ... learn their techniques and learn from their mistakes.

 

[CleverNickName]

I'm not sure which disturbs me more. The fact that this was #1 on your list, or that after several posts, NO ONE commented on it. Is "stinky gamer" really that common that it's actually needed to be mentioned? Gack. I've only run into stinky gamer once, a young woman many years ago, but, wow.

Sadly, it can be a problem. (Not just with DMs, either.) But I wouldn't say that it is a common problem...I'm sure it happens very rarely. It's just that those rare instances leave a memorable impression.

Which is to say, I agree with the OP. Good hygiene should definitely be at the top of the list.

Other things I would add to the list:

13) be friends with his players.

14) know the rules, but use them with a light touch: rules should never get in the way of having fun.

15) ...be able to work against a deadline to create a cohesive, interesting adventure out of random ingredients, shaming other DMs and emerging victorious as an IRON DM!